Existing law establishes the Nevada Industrial Insurance Act and the Nevada Occupational Diseases Act, which provide for the payment of compensation to employees who are injured or disabled or who die as a result of an occupational injury or occupational disease. (Chapters 616A-616D and 617 of NRS) Existing law provides that compensation for permanent total disability, temporary total disability, permanent partial disability and death is based on a calculation of the average monthly wage of the injured employee. (NRS 616C.440, 616C.475, 616C.490, 616C.505) The Administrator of the Division of Industrial Relations of the Department of Business and Industry is required to provide by regulation for a method of determining average monthly wage, to include, if possible, historical wages earned by the injured employee. (NRS 616C.420) Sections 7-9 and 11 of this bill instead require that, in the case of an injured employee who is a construction worker, compensation be based on the greater of the employee's average monthly wage or average monthly prevailing wage. Section 5 of this bill requires the Administrator to provide by regulation for a method of determining average monthly prevailing wage based, if possible, on the historical number of hours worked as a construction worker by an injured construction worker who is a skilled mechanic, skilled worker, semiskilled mechanic, semiskilled worker or unskilled worker and the prevailing wage that is applicable to public works for the region and trade in which the construction worker was employed on the date of the accident or injury, regardless of whether the construction worker was actually employed on a public work. Existing law provides for the recalculation of the average monthly wage of an injured employee under certain circumstances. (NRS 616C.427) Section 6 of this bill provides for the recalculation of the average monthly prevailing wage under those same circumstances. Existing law: (1) provides that a claimant under the Nevada Industrial Insurance Act may elect to receive payment for a permanent partial disability in a lump sum under certain circumstances; and (2) with certain exceptions, provides that the total lump-sum payment must not be less than one-half the product of the average monthly wage multiplied by the percentage of disability. (NRS 616C.495) Section 10 of this bill provides that, in the case of an injured construction worker, the total lump-sum payment must not be less than one-half the product of the greater of the average monthly wage or average monthly prevailing wage multiplied by the percentage of disability. Sections 2 and 3 of this bill define the terms “average monthly prevailing wage” and “construction worker” for the purposes of the Nevada Industrial Insurance Act. Section 4 of this bill makes a conforming change to indicate the applicability of the definitions in sections 2 and 3.

Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 616A.025, 616C.427, 616C.440, 616C.475, 616C.490, 616C.495, 616C.505
BDR: 616A.025, 616C.427, 616C.440, 616C.475, 616C.490, 616C.495, 616C.505